Analog to digital conversion apparatus with a reduced number of ADCs

ABSTRACT

An analog to digital conversion includes a multiplexor circuit for receiving analog input signals and, responsive to a select input, an analog to digital converter circuit to convert a selected analog signal into a digital signal, a conversion starting device to send a conversion start signal on the basis of a trigger event, the conversion starting device being responsive to a select input, a sequencer to control the analog to digital converter circuitry to execute one sequence conversion on the basis of one conversion sequence instruction, and a FIFO register block to receive conversion sequence instructions and being able to queue each new received conversion sequence instruction if an actual conversion sequence is in progress and to control the sequencer to execute a new sequence conversion instruction after the conversion sequence is executed.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority of Italian Application No. MI2011A000925 filed May 24, 2011, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an analog to digital converter apparatus. Analog to digital converters (ADC) are well known in the art and are commonly used to convert an analog signal into a digital representation by periodically sampling the analog signal to form a sequence of digital values. A simple ADC generally provides a low resolution digital representation for each sample, such as an eight bit value, for example. More complex ADCs provide higher accuracy values, such as a sixteen bit value. ADCs can belong to a single apparatus including a microprocessor adapted to control the operations of the ADC by means of software executed on it.

The need for ADCs is rapidly increased in modern electronic applications especially in motor control devices; the number of available ADCs may be lower than the number required.

Also, the available ADCs must be managed on the basis of a priority request.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the state of the art, the objective of the present invention is to provide an analog to digital conversion apparatus which allows a reduction in the number of ADCs and management of the different conversion sequence requirements without the intervention of a microprocessor.

According to the present invention, this objective is achieved by means of an analog to digital conversion apparatus comprising:

an input multiplexor circuit having a plurality of analog input terminals for receiving a plurality of analog input signals, said input multiplexor circuit being responsive to a selected input,

an analog to digital conversion circuitry adapted to convert the selected analog signal into a digital signal,

a conversion starting device adapted to send to said analog to digital converter circuitry a conversion start signal on the basis of a selected trigger event of a plurality of trigger events, the conversion starting device being responsive to at least one select input,

a sequencer coupled to the select input of the input multiplexor circuit and to the at least one select input of the conversion starting device and adapted to control the analog to digital converter circuitry to execute one sequence conversion on the basis of one conversion sequence instruction,

a (“FIFO”) register block adapted to receive a plurality of conversion sequence instructions and being able to queue each new received conversion sequence instruction if an actual conversion sequence is in progress and is adapted to control the sequencer to execute a new sequence conversion instruction after the actual conversion sequence is completely executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an analog to digital conversion apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a time diagram of one conversion carried out by the apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a time diagram of another conversion carried out by the apparatus according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 shows one example of auto-configuring sequence instruction for the FIFO block of the apparatus in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an analog to digital conversion apparatus 100 according to the present invention. The apparatus comprises an ADC circuitry 1 able to convert an analog signal into an equivalent digital representation of the analog signal; the analog signal to be converted deriving from an input multiplexor circuit 2 having a plurality of analog input terminals An1, An2 . . . Ann for receiving a respective plurality of analog input signals and said input multiplexor circuit is responsive to a select input S2. The analog input signals can be either internally generated from a microcontroller 50 or provided from other external devices.

The apparatus comprises a conversion starting device 20 adapted to send to said analog to digital converter circuitry 1 a conversion start signal Stcs on the basis of a selected trigger event of a plurality of trigger events E1, E2, Ep, (not shown) with p greater than n; the conversion starting device is responsive to select inputs S3-S6.

Preferably the conversion starting device 20 comprises a trigger multiplexor circuit 3 having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective triggering signals Trg1 . . . Trgn and a mask multiplexor circuit 4 having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective masking signals Mask1 . . . Maskn; the multiplexor circuits 3 and 4 responsive to respective select inputs S3 and S4. One of the triggering signals and one of the masking signals are then fed to a logic operator block 5, belonging to the conversion starting device 20, able to operate simple logic operations (such as AND, OR, XOR, . . . ) on the two signals deriving from the multiplexor circuits 3 and 4; the logic operator block is responsive to a select input S5 and outputs a signal Trm. The output signal Trm is then fed to the polarity selection block 6, belonging to the conversion starting device 20, able to generate the conversion start signal Stcs in response to the selected sensitivity, that is on the basis of the rising or falling edge and/or to low or high logic level of the signal Trm; the polarity selection block is responsive to a select input S6.

The triggering signals Trg1 . . . Trgn and the masking signals Mask1 . . . Maskn can be either generated internally to the microcontroller 50 (for instance from some peripherals such as timers) or provided from the external device (for instance through a dedicated microcontroller pin).

The apparatus 100 comprises a sequencer or sequence handler block 7 coupled to the select input S2 of the input multiplexor circuit 2 and to the select inputs S3-S6 of the conversion starting device 20 and adapted to control the analog to digital converter circuitry 1 to execute a conversion sequence on the basis of one conversion sequence instruction or auto-configuring instruction ACI_1, ACI_2 . . . ACI_n, (Ann).

The apparatus further comprises a FIFO register block 8 able to manage the conversion process of the conversion apparatus. The FIFO register is updated once finished the conversion sequence is by means of a signal EOCS (End Of Conversion Sequence); the FIFO block defines the new conversion sequence to be carried out.

The FIFO register block 8 receives the auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 . . . ACI_n, preferably one successive to the other along the time, from the sequence instruction register 9 which can be programmed from the microcontroller 50 or from another external entity such as (“DMA”) transactions. As soon as the register 9 is programmed, the apparatus automatically loads the sequence instruction or auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 . . . ACI_n into the FIFO register block 8 and clears the sequence instruction register content. The FIFO register block 8 is able to manage the different auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 . . . ACI_n at the input, even when said auto-configuring instructions are received a short time the one from the other; in fact the FIFO block provides to queue the other auto-configuring instructions when one auto-configuring instruction is not carried out, that is the conversion sequence has not been completely carried out by analog to digital conversion circuitry 1. That is the FIFO register block 8, in the case wherein the second auto-configuring instruction ACI_2 or more auto-configuring instructions ACI_2, ACI_3 . . . ACI_n are received in a short time, before the execution of first auto-configuring instruction ACI_1 is ended, waits for the end of the execution of the first auto-configuring instruction ACI_1 for the execution of the next auto-configuring instruction ACI_2. Therefore, the analog to digital converter apparatus, according to the present invention, differs from the prior art, is able to manage the different conversion requirements deriving from the outside when said requirements arrive in a short time the one from the other.

When a first sequence instruction (or auto-configuring instruction) ACI_1 is loaded in the FIFO register block 8, said instruction is transferred to the sequence handler block 7 and executed. The sequence handler block 7 configures the apparatus by selecting:

-   -   which of the available analog signals An1 . . . Ann is to be         converted (optionally a specific sampling time could also be         associated to each of the analog inputs);     -   which of the available triggering signals Trg1 . . . Trgn and         masking signals Mask1 . . . Maskn should be fed to the logic         operator block 5;     -   which logic operation should be executed on the two signals by         the logic operator block 5 (e.g. Trg4 AND Mask2, Trg4 NOT         Mask2);     -   what is the sensitivity of polarity selection block 6, that is         if the block 6 should be sensitive to the rising/falling edges         or the high/low levels of the signal Trm at the input.

Sequence handler block 7 controls the conversion starting device 20 and configures it to determine the event E1, E2 . . . En for the start of the conversion.

For each sequence instruction ACI_1 ACI_n the triggering signal and/or the masking signal and/or the logic operation and/or the sensitivity of the polarity selection block can be different from those of another sequence instruction. Also the triggering signal and/or the masking signal and/or the logic operation and/or the sensitivity of the polarity selection block can vary inside each conversion sequence, that is the sequence handler block 7 can select different triggering signals and/or masking signals and/or logic operations and/or sensitivity of the polarity selection block for each conversion sequence on the basis of the auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 ACI_n received from the FIFO register block 8.

Also the sequence handler block 7 can select different triggering signals and/or masking signals and/or logic operations and/or sensitivity of the polarity selection block for each single conversion belonging to the conversion sequence of the auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 ACI_n received from the FIFO register block 8.

Once the single conversion of the conversion sequence has been executed, the ADC circuitry 1 feeds back this information to the sequence handler block 7 through the end of conversion signal EC. If the just performed single conversion was the last of the sequence, then the sequence is finished: the FIFO and the flag register 10, that is the end of conversion sequence register, are updated by means of the end of conversion sequence signal EOCS deriving from the sequence handler block 7; otherwise the sequence handler block 7 configures the apparatus so as to execute the next single conversion of the sequence.

Therefore, the FIFO register block 8 sends the next auto-configuring instruction to the sequence handler block 7 when the first auto-configuring instruction has been executed.

FIG. 2 shows in more detail an example of the conversion process of the apparatus in FIG. 1. When a first auto configuring instruction ACI_1 is received and loaded in the FIFO register block 8, said instruction is executed by the sequence handler block 7; the last starts the first conversion sequence, for example a sequence composed by four conversions 1 a, 2 a, 3 a, 4 a. In FIG. 2 it is assumed that for conversions 1 a and 2 a, the logic operator block 5 operates as an ‘AND’ gate and the polarity selection block 6 is set by the sequence handler block 7 to be sensitive to the rising edge of the input signal Trm while for conversions 3 a and 4 a, the logic operator block 5 operates as a XOR gate and the polarity selection block 6 is set by the sequence handler block 7 to be sensitive to the falling edge of the input signal Trm. Moreover, in FIG. 2 it is assumed that the triggering signal and the masking signal are always the same for each of the conversions composing the sequences, in this case the signals Trg1 and Mask1 are selected. Each one of the conversions 1 a and 2 a starts when the signal Trm has a rising edge, which corresponds to the event E1, while each one of the conversions 3 a and 4 a starts when the signal Trm has a falling edge (corresponding to the event E2), and the conversion start signal Stcs being generated accordingly. After each conversion is finished, the data is written in the output registers 11 and the sequence handler block 7 is informed through the end of conversion signal EC. If the conversion sequence is finished, the sequence handler block 7 updates the FIFO register block 8 by means of a end of conversion sequence signal EOCS, by deleting the first ACI instruction and shifting up the FIFO elements. If after shifting the first element of the FIFO block is not null, a next ACI instruction is executed by the sequence handler block 7.

Flag register 10 stores event occurrence information such as EC, EOCS, FIFO underflow (FIFO empty), FIFO overflow, etc.

Another example of the conversion process of the apparatus in FIG. 1 is provided in FIG. 3. When the sequence instruction register 9 is written three consecutive times, that is it contains three auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2, ACI_3, the FIFO register block 8 receives the auto-configuring instructions ACI_1, ACI_2, ACI_3 from the sequence instruction register 9. As soon as the first instruction ACI_1 is written in the FIFO, the first sequence starts while the other two sequence instructions are queued in the FIFO. At the end of the first sequence execution, the FIFO is updated and the second instruction ACI_2 is executed. In the example provided, the second sequence is constituted by two conversions, 1 aa and 2 aa, and it is assumed that for conversion 1 aa and 2 aa that the logic operator block 5 operates as an ‘AND’ gate and the polarity selection block 6 is set by the sequence handler block 7 to be sensitive to the rising edge of the input signal Trm. The conditions for starting the conversion are always updated as soon as the conversion ends; in this case the polarity selection block 6 is configured to be sensitive to the rising edge (Trg1 AND Mask1) for the first conversion 1 aa (event E1) and to the rising edge (Trg2 AND Mask 1) for the second conversion 2 aa.

After the second sequence has been completed, the third one is executed. At the end of the third sequence, the FIFO is empty and the FIFO underflow flag is raised in the flag register 10.

FIG. 4 shows an example of auto configuring sequence instructions ACI_1, ACI_2 . . . ACI_n. In this very simple example the number of conversions composing the sequence is set equal to 2 (Bit 0), the maximum number of analog inputs is 16 (Bit 1-4 and bit 14-17), the maximum number of the triggering signals is 8 (Bit 5-7 and bit 18-20), the maximum number of the masking signals is equal to 8 (Bit 8-10 and bit 21-23) while the maximum number of logic operations (AND, OR, XOR, NOT or combinations thereof) is 8 (Bit 11-13 and bit 24-26).

The analog to digital converter apparatus 100 in FIG. 1 may belong to a system provided with the microcontroller 50 coupled by means of a bus line to the analog to digital converter apparatus.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, therefore, that various modifications and variations can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims. 

We claim:
 1. An analog to digital conversion apparatus comprising: an input multiplexor circuit having a plurality of analog input terminals for receiving a plurality of analog input signals, said input multiplexor circuit being responsive to a select input; an analog to digital converter circuit adapted to convert the selected analog signal into a digital signal; a conversion starting device adapted to send to said analog to digital converter circuit a conversion start signal on the basis of a selected trigger event of a plurality of trigger events, the conversion starting device being responsive to at least one select input; a sequencer coupled to the select input of the input multiplexor circuit and to at least one select input of the conversion starting device and adapted to control the analog to digital converter circuit to execute one sequence conversion on the basis of one conversion sequence instruction; and a FIFO register block adapted to receive a plurality of conversion sequence instructions and being able to queue each new received conversion sequence instruction if an actual conversion sequence is in progress and is adapted to control the sequencer to execute a new sequence conversion instruction after the actual conversion sequence is completely executed, wherein said conversion starting device comprises: a trigger multiplexor circuit having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective triggering signals and a mask multiplexor circuit having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective masking signals, the trigger and mask multiplexor circuits being responsive to respective select inputs; a logic operator block able to operate logic operations on two signals deriving respectively from the trigger multiplexor circuit and the mask multiplexor circuit, the logic operator block being responsive to a select input; and a polarity selection block receiving the output signal of the logic operator block and being able to generate the conversion start signal in response to a selected sensitivity, the polarity selection block being responsive to a select input.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said conversion starting device is able to vary the conversion start signal for each conversion sequence.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said conversion starting device is able to vary the conversion start signal for each single conversion of each conversion sequence.
 4. A system comprising an analog to digital conversion apparatus as in claim 1 and a microcontroller coupled to the analog to digital conversion apparatus.
 5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that the microcontroller is able to provide the analog input terminals to the input multiplexor circuit.
 6. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that the microcontroller is able to provide the triggering signals and/or the masking signals to the trigger multiplexor circuit and the mask multiplexor circuit respectively.
 7. A method of operating an analog to digital conversion of signals in an analog to digital conversion apparatus, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of conversion sequence instructions; managing the plurality of conversion sequence instructions by queuing each new received conversion sequence instruction if an actual conversion sequence is in progress and controlling the execution of a new sequence conversion instruction after the actual conversion sequence is completely executed; and executing each conversion sequence in response to the each conversion sequence instructions by: selecting one analog signal of the plurality of analog input signals; determining a conversion start signal on the basis of a selected trigger event of a plurality of trigger events; performing the conversion of the selected analog signal into a digital signal; and repeating the preceding steps until the conversion sequence is completed, wherein said determining a conversion start signal comprises: selecting a triggering signal of a plurality triggering signals and a masking signal of a plurality masking signals; configuring a logic operation on the selected triggering signal and the selected masking signal; and generating the conversion start signal in response of a selected sensitivity of the output signal of said logic operation.
 8. The method according to claim 7, characterized by varying the conversion start signal for each conversion sequence.
 9. The method according to claim 7, characterized by varying the conversion start signal for each single conversion of each conversion sequence.
 10. An analog to digital conversion apparatus comprising: an input multiplexor circuit for receiving a plurality of input signals; an analog to digital converter circuit coupled to the input multiplexor circuit; a conversion starting device for sending a conversion start signal to the analog to digital converter circuit; a sequencer coupled to the input multiplexor circuit and to the conversion starting device for controlling the analog to digital converter circuit; and a circuit for receiving a plurality of conversion sequence instructions and being able to queue each new received conversion sequence instruction if an actual conversion sequence is in progress and is adapted to control the sequencer to execute a new sequence conversion instruction after the actual conversion sequence is completely executed, wherein the conversion starting device comprises: a trigger multiplexor circuit having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective triggering signals and a mask multiplexor circuit having a plurality of input terminals for receiving respective masking signals, the trigger and mask multiplexor circuits being responsive to respective select inputs; a logic operator block able to operate logic operations on two signals deriving respectively from the trigger multiplexor circuit and the mask multiplexor circuit, the logic operator block being responsive to a select input; and a polarity selection block receiving the output signal of the logic operator block and being able to generate the conversion start signal in response to a selected sensitivity, the polarity selection block being responsive to a select input.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the conversion starting device is able to vary the conversion start signal for each conversion sequence.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the conversion starting device is able to vary the conversion start signal for each single conversion of each conversion sequence.
 13. A system comprising an analog to digital conversion apparatus as in claim 10 and a microcontroller coupled to the analog to digital conversion apparatus.
 14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the microcontroller is able to provide the analog input terminals to the input multiplexor circuit.
 15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the microcontroller is able to provide the triggering signals and/or the masking signals to the trigger multiplexor circuit and the mask multiplexor circuit respectively.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the circuit for receiving a plurality of conversion sequence instructions comprises a register.
 17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the register comprises a FIFO register. 